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Author Guest of Honor: Ryka Aoki | |
Ryka Aoki is a poet, composer, teacher, and novelist. Her latest
novel, Light From Uncommon Stars (Tor Books 2021) was an Alex,
SCKA, and Otherwise Award winner, and was also a finalist for the
Hugo, Locus, and Ignyte Awards.
Ryka is a two-time Lambda Literary Award finalist for her collections
Seasonal Velocities, and Why Dust Shall Never Settle Upon
This Soul, and her first novel, He Mele a Hilo, was callled
one of the "10 Best Books Set in Hawaii" by Bookriot. She has been
recognized by the California State Senate for "extraordinary
commitment to the visibility and well-being of Transgender people,"
and her work has appeared or been recognized in publications including
Vogue, Elle, Bustle, Autostraddle, PopSugar,
and Buzzfeed, as well as the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American
Center. She was also honored to work with the American Association of
Hiroshima Nagasaki A-Bomb Survivors, where two of her compositions
were adopted as the organization's "songs of peace."
She has an MFA in creative writing from Cornell University, and is
currently a professor of English at Santa Monica College.
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![[Ryka Aoki]](/RykaAoki.jpg) |
Fan Guest of Honor: Tanya DePass |
![[Tanya DePass]](/TanyaDePass.jpg)
Photo Credit: CamRicePhoto
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Tanya DePass is the founder and Director of I Need Diverse
Games, a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago,
which is dedicated to better diversification of all aspects
of gaming. I Need Diverse Games serves the community by
supporting marginalized developers, attendance at the Game
Developer Conference by participating in the GDC Scholarship
program, helps assist attendance at other industry events,
and is seeking partnership with organizations and
initiatives. Tanya is a lifelong Chicagoan who loves
everything about gaming, #INeedDiverseGames spawn point, and
wants to make the industry better and more inclusive for
everyone. She's part of the "Rivals of Waterdeep" actual play
stream on twitch.tv/rivalsofwaterdeep, a partnered Twitch
variety broadcaster; and often speaks on issues of
diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics
online, at conventions and as a public speaker.
She's the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother
Lands, a new, Twitch supported, sci fi afro-futurist RPG
developed with a team of all POC and Black creators; live
streamed on her twitch channel,
/cypheroftyr. She's also contributed to
publications at Green Ronin, Paizo and Monte Cook Games and
is the co-developer for the Fifth Season RPG based on
N.K. Jemisin's three time Hugo award winning Broken
Earth trilogy. Additionally, she is a Senior Annenberg labs Civic Media Fellow at
USC.
She's named as one of The Game Awards
Future Class of 2020, a diverse group of builders, thinkers
and dreamers whose voices elevate and diversify our
artform. It recognizes individuals around the world who
represent the bright, bold and inclusive future for video
games. She was also named as one of Gamers of the Year 2020 by Kotaku along
with three of her contemporaries. She was also invited to
the Xbox MVP program in February 2021.
Her work to make the industry more inclusive has been
highlighted in Game
Changer. The short
documentary premiered at Tribeca
2021, as part of the Queen Collective; an initiative
started by Queen Latifah.
Tanya is the programming & diversity coordinator for OrcaCon
and GaymerX. She also serves on the Board of Directors for
OrcaCon and was named the Chair for Take This in January 2023. She
often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race,
intersectionality & other topics at conventions. Her writing
about games and games critique appears in Uncanny Magazine,
Polygon, Wiscon Chronicles, Vice Gaming, Paste Games, Mic,
and other publications. She's the editor of Game Devs and
Others: Tales from the Margins (2018, CRC Press) and
contributed to The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox. (2019,
CRC Press)
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